1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an audio reproducing apparatus which reproduces music data recorded on recording media such as a hard disk and a CD-R (CD-recordable) and a music selection method for the audio reproducing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, there have widely been used on-vehicle audio reproducing apparatuses which reproduce music data recorded on recording media such as hard disks and CD-Rs. Generally, it is possible to record music data including one hundred or more songs on a single disk if a CD-R is used as the recording medium, or several thousands of songs if a hard disk is used as the recording medium.
In general, music data recorded on a CD-R or a hard disk are compressed by means of audio signal compression methods such as MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer-3) and WMA (Windows Media Audio). Moreover, the music data usually include added information such as a title, an album name, a genre, and an artist name. The audio reproducing apparatus can use the added information to display the title, the genre, the album name, and the artist name of the recorded songs on a display unit (display).
Because the size of the on-vehicle audio reproducing apparatus is prescribed by the DIN (German industrial standard), it is thus difficult to install a large display panel thereon, and the amount of information to be displayed on the display panel is limited. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-304873 describes an audio reproducing apparatus (sound reproducing device) which scrolls an album name or title to be displayed on a display panel if the number of characters contained in the album name or title is larger than the number of characters which can be fit in the display panel.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of a conventional on-vehicle audio reproducing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the on-vehicle audio reproducing apparatus 10 is provided with a display unit 11 for displaying a title and an artist name, a rotary encoder 12, and operation buttons such as a play button 13, a stop button 14, a track-up button 15, and a track-down button 16. For example, if music data recorded on a hard disk is reproduced, on the display unit 11 is shown the title of first music data recorded on the hard disk upon the power being turned on. Thereafter, the title present on the display unit 11 is changed each time the rotary encoder 12 is turned clockwise or counterclockwise by a certain angle. Upon a desired title being shown on the display unit 11, if the rotation of the rotary encoder 12 is stopped and the play button 13 is depressed, reproduction of the music data starts.
However, the conventional audio apparatus shown in FIG. 1 displays the next title each time the rotary encoder 12 is rotated by the certain angle, and it is thus necessary to quickly rotate the rotary encoder 12 to search for a desired song in a short period if a large number of the music data are stored on the recording medium.
However, if the rotational speed of the rotary encoder 12 is increased, the time available to show the title of a single song becomes excessively short, the title shown on the display unit 11 becomes unrecognizable as shown in FIG. 2, and the progress of the search becomes incomprehensible. Thus, it is conventionally necessary to occasionally stop the rotation of the rotary encoder 12 to check to which song the search has progressed, resulting in additional time taken to find the desired music data.